Cumberland’s Gillis, Faria reach NE podium
Faria wrestles back to third, Gillis finishes sixth to help Clippers finish 14th
PROVIDENCE — In most sports, Cumberland underclassmen Aidan Faria and Brady Gillis would have spent the offseason stewing over frustrating state final defeats hoping to atone in a year’s time.
In wrestling, the two were back on the mat less than 48 hours later preparing for a bigger tournament.
Saturday, at the same venue as the state championship meet, the Providence Career and Technical Academy, the Clipper duo reached the New England semifinals and earned a spot on the medal stand. Faria bounced back from a semifinal loss to the eventual 145-pound New England champion with two consolation- bracket victories to finish third. Gillis went 3- 3 at 113 pounds to finish sixth.
“This was really good. It was nice to see the success the kids had,” Cumberland coach Colin Smith said. “Some of them would’ve liked to win their state tournament last week, however taking all- New England is their all ultimate goal. They’re going to come back next season ready to win a state title.”
“This feels pretty good,” Faria said. “I was looking to get first, but getting one loss and coming back for third is good for me. I came into this tournament telling myself ‘ Don’t think at all.’ Because if you don’t think, you won’t have to worry. If there’s nothing to worry about, you can go in and beat anybody.
As a team, Cumberland finished tied 14th with 37 points. Danbury, Conn. won the title with 88.5 points, while Bishop Hendricken was second with 71.5 points. Hendricken sophomore and Cumberland resident Nick Fine finished fourth at 138 pounds, while junior 120- pounder Andrew Fallon was one of two Rhode Islanders to win New England titles.
Faria had a strong finish to the season with his lone losses in the final month of the season coming to the two wrestlers who competed for Saturday’s New England title – Coventry’s Sean Caltagairone and New Caanan’s ( Conn.) Tyler Sung. Smith said Faria’s biggest win came in the first round where the junior defeated Southington’s ( Conn.) Jacob Cardozo, 6- 4.
That victory was followed up by a pin of the Vermont runner- up, Dylan Lee of Fair Haven, and an 11- 6 win over the Maine state champion, Mountain View’s Mark Ward. In the semifinals against the Eastern States and Connecticut Open champion Sung, Faria couldn’t get out from the bottom in all three periods and suffered a 5-0 defeat.
“That was a pretty tough match, but in the last 10 seconds I almost caught him in a cradle,” Faria said. “That’s the move I was looking for because that’s his favorite move and I tried to counter it. I felt pretty good about that match and I feel like I should’ve won it.”
Faria bounced back with a 9-3 win over Fairfield Ward’s (Conn.) Cole Shaugnessy before securing third place with a 10-5 victory over Maine’s Noah Lang of Camden Hills. Faria only led by two points going into the final period, but he rode out Lang for most of the period and even picked up three near-fall points to pad his lead.
“I’m trying to move all the way to the top of the podium next year,” Faria said.
“Aidan is committed to getting better,” Smith said. “He’s filled out and he’s gotten a lot stronger this season, so you could tell he was getting better and better in the weight class as the season went along. He just needs to continue what he’s doing in his training and he’s not complacent. He keeps moving forward.”
Gillis had a particularly frustrating state final defeat, as he led Ponaganset’s Tim Cook 3-1 in the third period, but was thrown to his back and pinned. While Cook went 1-2 this weekend, Gillis won his first three match- es and finished sixth.
The junior simply ground out wins to reach the semifinals, starting Friday night when he posted a 6-2 win over Martial Sutton of Glastonbury, Conn. and a 6-3 win over Maine runner-up Brycen Kowalsky of Mt. Ararat. Saturday morning, with a spot in the semifinals and a New England medal on the line, Gillis recorded a first-period takedown that proved to be the difference in a 5-4 win over Cameron Soda of Burlington, Mass.
“It was pretty good, but I still feel like I could’ve worked harder,” Gillis said. “As a result, I still placed top-6 and I feel pretty good about how I did. Seeing as next year is going to be my senior year, this gives me a lot of motivation to keep working hard because I want to win. I’m going to work harder and harder this offseason.”
Gillis was pinned in the semifinals by eventual runner up Elijah Cyr of Middletown, Conn. The consolation rounds didn’t go the Clipper’s way, as he suffered a 6-1 loss in the consolation semifinals and then Travis Longo of Trumbull, Conn., defeated Gillis 10-0 to finish in fifth place.
The Clippers actually had three quarterfinalists, thanks to 285-pound senior Reuben Hancock’s 9-2 and 5-0 victories Friday night. In Saturday’s quarterfinal, Hancock faced regular training partner and Virginia commit Matuesz Kudra of North Attleboro. The lanky Red Rocketeer used takedowns in each period to record a 7-1 victory on his way to the New England title.
Junior Colby Reilly (126) and senior Kaream Sangare (195) went 1-2 to finish Smith’s first season in charge of the program.
“As a head coach it’s a lot more of an emotional rollercoaster,” Smith said. “I’ve always enjoyed coaching everyone and for whatever reason this year, I really felt the highs and lows of every match. I’m really happy with how our season finished, placing top three in the state and having two kids place at New Englands. It’s pretty exciting.”
Tolman’s Jacob Felix was eliminated from the tournament Friday night after going 1-2. The senior earned a 9- 8 victory over Benny Herrera of Ashland, Mass. before being pinned by eventual third- place finisher Michael Rapuano of Xavier, Conn.